Virtual Hike of Long Logs Trail

“
A beautiful loop through a veritable forest of colorful, petrified tree trunks.”

Overview

Family Friendly: Kids will love to view the giant petrified trees strewn about the area near the trail.

Dogs: Leashed

Description

Travel along the Long Logs Trail for a journey through perhaps one of nature's best preserved prehistoric log piles.

Starting at the trailhead off the Long Logs Access Trail (Paved), continue along a short length of trail before reaching the loop. Wander either direction along the trail, taking your time to enjoy your surroundings and inspect the beautiful specimens of petrified wood along the trail.

Formed over 200 million years ago during the Triassic, these logs were quickly toppled and covered in silica-rich river sediments and volcanic ash. Over time, the lack of oxygen and microbes available to decompose these buried trees allowed groundwater to dissolve minerals from the surrounding sediment and begin to replace the organic material in the tree. After many hundred of years, the trees seen here were completely replaced by the mineral quartz, and since quartz is an extremely erosion-resistant mineral, they still exist to this day even as the surrounding sediments rapidly erode.